Prostate Cancer

lily2
lily2 Member Posts: 4
in Prostate Cancer #1
In Dec of 2010, my husband was told that his PSA count went from a 6 in 2009 to a 20. We were never notified about this 6 in 2009, so we were very surprised, not to mention very upset. On Dec 23, 2010, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He had a radical prostatectomy on Feb 1 and also had 13 lymphnodes removed with 1 being cancerous. 6 weeks later his PSA was a 0.18. On May 16 his PSA is now a 0.22. The doctors have told us that he is a stage 1V and they want to do 7 1/2 weeks of radiation everyday except weekends, a hormone shot once a month and a hormone pill once a day. He's 55 years old. I would like to know if anyone has had this same treatment and what your outcome has been. Any information would be of great appreciation. Thank you

Comments

  • ncobjim
    ncobjim Member Posts: 37
    #2
    Radiation & Hormone Treatment
    Had RP in 2006 with PSA of 4.8
    PSA 0.05 after RP.
    In 2010 PSA went from 0.2 to 0.4
    Had 7-1/2 weeks of IMRT ending in Sept. 2010
    2 shots of 3 months each of Trelstar Hormone treatment.
    IMRT went quite well. No real problems at all with that.
    The Hormone shots caused a lot of hot flashes & really bad sleeping problems.
    PSA 6 months after is 0.01
    Feeling very good on how well everything went.
    Just hoping if continues.

    Good luck.
  • Old-timer
    Old-timer Member Posts: 196
    #3
    Treatment for prostate cancer
    At age 64, in July 1991, I was diagnosed with PC. My PSA was 4.0. Had RP in Sept 1991. PSA dropped to .0. After 13 years, in 2004, PSA began a slow climb upward. In 2005 I had 36 sessions of radiation. In my case, the radiation treatments were ineffective. Apparently, the cancer had moved out of the area where the radiation was directed. PSA continued to climb. It reached 20.4 in 2008, at which time I went on hormone therapy. PSA dropped to less than .01 (undetectable). It has remained at that level for three years. My urologist said my cancer is in remission. Very good news.

    Did your doctor give you a Gleason score? Mine is 7 (3+4). This is said to be average, not bad but not good either.

    Every case seems to be different.

    Hopefully, this info will be helpful to you. Stay calm and keep your spirits up.

    Good luck.
  • VascodaGama
    VascodaGama Member Posts: 3,701 Member
    #4
    Old-timer said:

    Treatment for prostate cancer
    At age 64, in July 1991, I was diagnosed with PC. My PSA was 4.0. Had RP in Sept 1991. PSA dropped to .0. After 13 years, in 2004, PSA began a slow climb upward. In 2005 I had 36 sessions of radiation. In my case, the radiation treatments were ineffective. Apparently, the cancer had moved out of the area where the radiation was directed. PSA continued to climb. It reached 20.4 in 2008, at which time I went on hormone therapy. PSA dropped to less than .01 (undetectable). It has remained at that level for three years. My urologist said my cancer is in remission. Very good news.

    Did your doctor give you a Gleason score? Mine is 7 (3+4). This is said to be average, not bad but not good either.

    Every case seems to be different.

    Hopefully, this info will be helpful to you. Stay calm and keep your spirits up.

    Good luck.

    Your husband can hope for the best too
    Lily2

    The doctor of your husband is following the typical protocol for treating recurrence. The hormonal shot and pill will care for any systemic cancer while the radiation will tackle the “bandit” at localized regions (prostate fossa). This is a treatment that has shown successful results and, as the many above say, your husband can hope for the best too.
    I wonder if you could provide more details on his case, such as Gleason and image studies.
    All treatments have side effects which you should be familiar with. Try to read on the matter by googleing this sentence “Side Effects of treatments for Prostate Cancer”.

    Wishing the best to both of you.
    VGama
  • lily2
    lily2 Member Posts: 4
    #5
    Old-timer said:

    Treatment for prostate cancer
    At age 64, in July 1991, I was diagnosed with PC. My PSA was 4.0. Had RP in Sept 1991. PSA dropped to .0. After 13 years, in 2004, PSA began a slow climb upward. In 2005 I had 36 sessions of radiation. In my case, the radiation treatments were ineffective. Apparently, the cancer had moved out of the area where the radiation was directed. PSA continued to climb. It reached 20.4 in 2008, at which time I went on hormone therapy. PSA dropped to less than .01 (undetectable). It has remained at that level for three years. My urologist said my cancer is in remission. Very good news.

    Did your doctor give you a Gleason score? Mine is 7 (3+4). This is said to be average, not bad but not good either.

    Every case seems to be different.

    Hopefully, this info will be helpful to you. Stay calm and keep your spirits up.

    Good luck.

    Thank you! Yes his Gleason
    Thank you Old-timer! Yes his Gleason Score was also 7 (4+3) We're very happy you're in remission and we hope this will continue. Wishing you all the best and we are doing our best to keep our spirits up!
  • lily2
    lily2 Member Posts: 4
    #6
    VascodaGama said:

    Your husband can hope for the best too
    Lily2

    The doctor of your husband is following the typical protocol for treating recurrence. The hormonal shot and pill will care for any systemic cancer while the radiation will tackle the “bandit” at localized regions (prostate fossa). This is a treatment that has shown successful results and, as the many above say, your husband can hope for the best too.
    I wonder if you could provide more details on his case, such as Gleason and image studies.
    All treatments have side effects which you should be familiar with. Try to read on the matter by googleing this sentence “Side Effects of treatments for Prostate Cancer”.

    Wishing the best to both of you.
    VGama

    VascodaGama
    Thank you! His Gleason Score is 7 (4+3). The cancer was in 1 side of his prostate but had spread into 1 of his lymphnodes. They removed 13 of them and thankfully only 1 had cancer in it. It was also in his seminole vesicle and when the prostate was removed they found, as the dr calls them, 2 fingers that were reaching out of the back of the prostate. He had 2 bone scans and 2 CT scans done and they both came out fine. Although the dr.s aren't sure exactly where the cancer has spread to, they feel that it has spread into more of his lymphnodes within the prostate area. So this is where they will be targeting with the radiation and hopefully this will be the correct area. I read up about the side effects and hopefully he'll be ok and not have too many of these. None would be great! Thank you again
  • lily2
    lily2 Member Posts: 4
    #7
    ncobjim said:

    Radiation & Hormone Treatment
    Had RP in 2006 with PSA of 4.8
    PSA 0.05 after RP.
    In 2010 PSA went from 0.2 to 0.4
    Had 7-1/2 weeks of IMRT ending in Sept. 2010
    2 shots of 3 months each of Trelstar Hormone treatment.
    IMRT went quite well. No real problems at all with that.
    The Hormone shots caused a lot of hot flashes & really bad sleeping problems.
    PSA 6 months after is 0.01
    Feeling very good on how well everything went.
    Just hoping if continues.

    Good luck.

    Thank you!
    Thank you! We're very happy to hear you're doing well and we wish you all the best. 2 of us having hot flashes in the middle of summer, oh my :-)

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